Binary fluid power plant



June 5, 1934, R. c. ROE 1,961,786,

BINARY FLUID POWER PLANT Filed March 6. 1931 2 cs-Sheet 1 W 6 INVENTORJune 5, 1934.

TEMP. DEGREES FAHR.

R c. ROE 1,961,786

BINARY FLUID POWER PLANT Original Filed March 6. 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 o2 4 6 a no :2 l4- PERCENT, BY WEIGHT,0F ucur u um LEFT m NIXTURE Fig. 2

W (1:24 INVENTOR Patented June 5, 1934 BINARY FLUID POWER PLANT Ralph C.Roe, Englewood, N. J., assignor of onehalf to Stephen W. Borden, Summit,N. J.

Application March 6, 1931, Serial No. 520,557 Renewed March 17, 1934 12Claims. (Cl. 60-38) This invention pertains to improvements in binaryfluid power plants employing a regenerative heat cycle and moreparticularly to such plants employing compound turbines.

The object of this invention is to provide a plant employingregenerative heat, by means of a binary fluid absorption system, inwhich a standard type of prime mover may be utilized without necessarilybeing modified for use in the system and in which binary fluids whichare easily available and relatively cheap may be used and in which theother pieces of equipment are all of well known design and easilyobtainable.

This application is a continuation in part of iii my co-pendingapplication Serial #508,068, the principal difference consisting in theplacing of the high pressure turbine between the combustion boiler andthe heat exchanger.

The general principles of absorption refrigeration may be formed in suchworks as Kent's and Marks handbooks of mechanical refrigeration and inRefrigeration by Moyer and Fittz, 1928.

The general principle of recovering heat from the turbine exhaust andre-introducing it into the heat cycle by means of a binary fluidabsorption system is described in my co-pending applications Serial Nos.508,068 and 522,214.

The terms used herein have the following meanings.

Binary fluidan absorptive, thermal-binary fluid consisting of twoliquids in certain normal proportions, one of which has a lower boilingpoint, at any pressure, than the other and the latter liquid having theproperty of absorbing, under certain conditions, vapor of the formerliquid.

Light liquidthat one, of the two liquids of a binary fluid, which hasthe lower boiling point.

Heavy liquid-that one, of the two liquids of a binary fluid, which hasthe higher boiling point.

Either or both of the liquids may consist of a solution of two or moresubstances.

The following nomenclature has been adopted, in both the specificationand claims, for the sake of clearness. The boiler used for producingvapor for the high pressure element has been termed "combustion boiler"and the boiler for producing vapor for the low pressure elementcondenser boiler". The fluid leaving the absorber, when consisting ofsubstantially normal proportions of its two constituent fluids, istermed binary fluid. The constituent element having the lower boilingpoint is termed light liquid" and vapor produced therefrom under highpres- 55 sure in the boiler is termed light liquid vapor and vaporproduced therefrom under vacuum in the condenser evaporator is termedlight liquid evaporate. The other of the two constituents of the binaryfluid is termed heavy liquid. These terms are applied even though one ofthe constituent liquids may be water. The fluid which is heated in thecondenser boiler for supplying the vapor for the low pressure element ofthe turbine is referred to throughout as water and the vapor thereof assteam although it is 05 to be understood that other liquids may pausedfor that purpose, and that water" and steam as herein used are intendedto include such liquids and their vapors.

In the drawings, which are schematic, Fig. l m represents a binary fluidregenerative plant employing a compound turbine. Fig. 2 is adistillation-temperature-pressure curve for a binary fluid consisting ofglycerine and. water in a 28" vacuum.

Referring to Fig. l of the drawings: 1 is a furnace or other source ofheat for boiler 2 which contains a mixture of heavy and light liquids, 3represents a rectifier or purifier of any conventional type, 4 aconduit, 5 a superheater, at 6 the high pressure element of a compoundprime mover, '7 an exhaust conduit, 8 the vapor space of a condenserboiler 9, 11 a liquid turbine or other pressure reducing device, 12 aconduit,

13 the vapor chamber of a condenser evaporator 14, the condenserevaporator being one portion of a combination evaporator condenser 41,15 a conduit, 16 an absorber, 17 a conduit, 18 a heat exchanger, 19 aconduit, 20 a liquid turbine or other pressure reducing device, 21 and22 conduits, 23 pump for removing vapor and liquid,

24 a'conduit, 25 an air vent drum, 26 a conduit,

2''! a pressure pump, 28 a conduit, 29 a heat exchanger element, 30 aconduit, 31 a vent pipe,

32 a pump, 33 a conduit, 34 a cooling coil, 35, 36 and 37 conduits, 38the low pressure element of a prime mover, 39 an exhaust conduit, 40 thesteam chamber of the combination evaporator condenser 41, 42 a hot well,51 a water cooled steam condenser and one portion of the combinationevaporator condenser 41, 52 the water chamber of the condenser 51, 53 apump or other means of maintaining and regulating a flow of coolingwater through chamber 52. 54 is a conduit, 55 a combination hot well andboiler feed pump, 56 and 5'7 conduits, 58 light liquid condensate, 59and 60 conduits and 61 a heat exchanger.

In the form of my invention herein illustrated and described, the primemover is a compound no steam turbine of conventional design. The rest ofthe equipment is all of conventional design and the operation andconstruction thereof, including the necessary calculations as to size,etc., are well understood in the steam power and refrigerating arts.

For illustrating the general principle of the operation of the system.it will be assumed that the binary fluid employed is a solution ofglycerine and water containing 4 per cent glycerine as it leaves theabsorber and that water is used as the liquid for the low pressureelement and reference is had to the drawings. By applying heat to boiler2- the water is distilled from the glycerine at a suitable pressure, say215 pounds absolute and 404 degrees Fahr., and passes, in the form ofsuperheated steam, through the purifier 3, where any entrained particlesof glycerine are taken out and returned to the boiler. The steam thenpasses through the conduit 4 and superheater 5 to high pressure turbine6. Leaving the turbine by way of exhaust conduit '7, the steam entersthe steam space 8 of condenser boiler 9, at a selected temperature, say192 degrees Fahr. and 9.8 pounds absolute, where it is condensed,forming light liquid condensate 58, which flows through conduit 59, heatexchanger 61, conduit 60 and turbine 11. where its pressure is reducedthe desired amount, into chamber 13 of condenser evaporator 14, chamber13 being maintained under vacuum by means of pump 23. Exhaust steam fromlow pressure turbine 38 enters the steam chamber 40 of condenserevaporator 14 which results in vaporizing the light liquid condensatetherein and the light liquid evaporate passes through conduit 15 intothe absorber 16.

Returning now to combustion boiler 2., Heavy liquid passes throughconduit 17, heat exchanger 18 where its temperature is greatly reduced,conduit l9, reducing turbine 20 and conduit 21 to the absorber. In theabsorber the heavy liquid is brought into intimate contact with thelight liquid evaporate entering through conduit 15 with the result thatthe evaporate is absorbed by the heavy liquid, the two re-forming intothe original binary fluid which is drawn off by conduit 22, vacuum pump23 and conduit 24 to vent drum 25 where any entrained gas may be ventedthrough conduit 31. From 25 the binary fluid passes through conduit 26,pump 27, heat exchanger 29 and conduit 30 back to the boiler 2 thuscompleting the circuit of the binary fluid and its two constituentelements.

In the absorber 16 heat of absorption is liberated and the heat is takenup by coil 34 through which water from the boiler condenser 9 iscirculated via pump 32, conduits 33 and 35, the coil 34 generating steamat a temperature of about 185 degrees Fahr. and 8.4 pounds absolute. Aportion of the heat from absorber 16 passes, in the form of heat ofliquid, via pump 27 back to boiler 2. The'binary fluid at this pointwill have a temperature of about 187 degrees Fahr. which will be theoperating temperature of the absorber.

In condenser boiler 9 the water receives heat from the exhaust steamfrom turbine 6 and the heat of absorption via coil 34 providing steam atsay 185 degrees Fahr. and 8.4 pounds absolute. The steam generated inboiler 9 passes through conduits 36 and 37 to turbine 38 and it may besuperheated by passing it through superheater 5 where it will receivesuificient superheat from the superheated steam entering turbine 6.Leaving turbine 38 the exhaust steam passes through conduit '39 lntothesteam chamber 40 where it is condensed, partly by means of the lightliquid in chamber 13 and partly by means of cooling water in chamber 52.The steam condensate fiows into hot well 42 and is returned to boiler 9by feed water pump 55 via heat exchanger 61.

The wet vacuum pump 23 produces a vacuum which may be as high as 28 ofmercury and which extends back into chamber 13 and this vacuumdetermines the temperature of the light liquid evaporate and thereforeplaces certain limitations on the temperature and vacuum in chamber 40and since not less than a 10 difference is usually required to supply asuitable heat head. it follows that the temperature in chamber 40 mustbe at least 10 higher than that in chamber 13. If the light liquid iswater, the vacuum in chamber 40 may be as high as 28" but not higherwhich, of course, detracts from the efllciency of the low pressureturbine but this disadvantage may be easily offset by the advantage ofusing turbines of standard construction and especially so where theturbines may be available as in the case of a remodeled plant.

Since the processes in the combustion boiler and the absorber are thesame except that one is the reverse of the other, and since the heat ofabsorption or the heat of vaporization in the binary fluid alwayscontains the latent heat of condensation or vaporization and in additionmay contain other heats, such as heat of solution, and since the latentheat varies with the pressure, it follows that for each heat unitfurnished to the turbine via heat of absorption, that is to say for eachregenerated heat unit, there must be a large portion of another heatunit furnished by the fuel boiler for the purposes of vaporization, theexact ratio depending on the comparative pressures of the two.

If we omit the high pressure turbine unit, as in Serial #508,068, thenof the total heat going to the turbine something less than 50% must comefrom the fuel boiler or, in other words, the amount of regenerationwhich can be utilized is equal to approximately 50%, of the total heatentering the turbine. In the instant case, the above ratio is notgoverned entirely by the vaporization pressure, but also by the exhaustpressure of the high pressure turbine and by whether the high pressureturbine exhausts in a superheated or saturated condition and thetendency is generally to improve the ratio or, in other words, toincrease the amount of regeneration which can be utilized.

Whatever heat is used by the high pressure turbine must be furnished bythe fuel boiler and inasmuch as the high pressure unit is thermallynearly 100% efficient, because all of the remaining heat in its exhaustis used for the low pressure unit, it therefore follows that in somecases there is a gain in efiiciency by using the high pressure unit inthe manner shown. This is particularly true when the initial pressure isvery high. In this respect the effect of super-imposing the highpressure unit is substantially the same as that produced by doing thesame thing in a conventional steam plant. Any gain in efficiency fromthis cause is in addition to any gain which may be produced by animprovement in the regenerative ratio.

If too much heat from the exhaust steam of the low pressure unit, beused for regeneration, there will be produced an excess of steam in thecondenser boiler 9 and unless this can be used to advantage, as forprocess work or other heat ing requirements, there is no object inburdening the regenerative equipment with this extra work and thebalance of the heat must be disposed of which is the function of thewater cooled condenser 51. The amount of heat disposed of in the watercooled condenser may be regulated by varying, in any conventionalmanner, the amount of water flowing therethrough.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention inaccordance with the patent statutes, it will be understood that myinvention is capable of embodiment in a variety of forms of apparatusand that I am not limited to the specific arrangement or structuralparts shown and described, nor to the particular binary fluid mentioned,but that the scope of invention is to be gauged by the accompanyingclaims taken in connection with the state of the prior art.

What I claim is:-

1. A binary fluid power plant which includesan elastic fluid compoundprime mover having high and low pressure elements; a combustion boilerproducing light liquid vapor for the high pressure element; a condenserboiler receiving the exhaust from the high pressure element andproducing steam for the low pressure element; a condenser evaporatorreceiving exhaust steam from the low pressure element and producinglight liquid evaporate which is conveyed to an absorber; an absorber forthe light liquid evaporate, the absorber being in heat exchange relationwith the condenser boiler; a first conduit line for conducting heavyliquid from the combustion boiler to the absorber, said conduit lineincluding pressure reducing means; a second conduit line for conductingbinary fluid from the absorber to the combustion boiler, said conduitline including a pump; a third conduit line for conducting steamcondensate from the condenser evaporator to the condenser boiler, saidconduit line including a pump and a fourth conduit line for conductinglight liquid condensate from the condenser boiler to the condenserevaporator said conduit line including temperature and pressure reducingmeans together with means for conducting vapor from the combustionboiler to the high pressure element and from the high pressure elementto the condenser boiler, means for conducting steam from the condenserboiler to the low pressure element and from the low pressure element tothe condenser evaporator and means for conducting evaporate from thecondenser evaporator to the absorber.

2. A power plant according to claim 1 characterized by the further factthat the first conduit line includes one element of a heat exchanger,the second element of which is included in the second conduit line.

3. A power plant according to claim 1 characterized by the further factthat the second conduit line includes means for venting the same.

4. A power plant according to claim 1 which is characterized by theaddition of a water cooled condenser for condensing steam from the lowpressure element of the prime mover, said condenser being arranged todischarge the steam condensate into a chamber which receives also thesteam condensate from the condenser evaporator.

5. A power plant according to claim 1 characterized by the further factthat the third conduit line includes a pump and one element of a heatexchanger, the other element of which is connected in the fourth conduitline.

6. A power plant according to claim 1 characterized by the fact that thesecond conduit line includes, in addition to the pump specified, meansfor removing vapor and liquid from the absorber and condenserevaporator.

7. A power plant according to claim 1 characterized by the fact that thepressure reducing means in the first conduit line is a liquid turbine.

8. A power plant according to claim 1, characterized by the fact thatthe means for conducting vapor from the combustion boiler to the highpressure element includes one element of a superheater, the otherelement of which is included in the means for conducting steam from thecondenser boiler to the low pressure element.

9. A binary iluid power plant which includesan elastic fluid compoundprime mc' r having high and low pressure elements; a combustion boilerproducing light liquid vapor for the high pressure element; a condenserboiler receiving the exhaust from the high pressure element andproducing steam for the low pressure element; a condenser evaporatorreceiving exhaust steam from the low pressure element and producinglight liquid evaporate which is conveyed to an absorber; an absorber forthe light liquid evaporate, the absorber containing a cooling coilconnected by a conduit line, which includes a pump, to the condenserboiler, said conduit line and pump being arranged to circulate waterfrom the condenser boiler through the cooling coil; a first conduit linefor conducting heavy liquid from the combustion boiler to the absorber,said conduit line including pressure reducing means; a second conduitline for conducting binary fluid from the absorber to the combustionboiler, said conduit 110 line including a pump; a third conduit line forconducting steam condensate from the condenser evaporator to thecondenser boiler, said conduit line including a pump and a fourthconduit line for conducting light liquid condensate from the condenserboiler to the condenser evaporator said conduit line includingtemperature and pressure reducing means together with means forconducting vapor from the combustion boiler to the high pressure elementand from the high pressure element to the condenser boiler, means forconducting steam from the condenser boiler to the low pressure elementand from the low pressure element to the condenser evaporator and meansfor conducting evaporate from the condenser evaporator to the absorber.

10. A binary fluid power plant which includesan elastic fluid compoundprime mover having high and low pressure elements; a combustion boilerproducing light liquid vapor for the high 130 pressure element; acondenser boiler receiving the exhaust from the high pressure elementand producing steam for the low pressure element; a condenser evaporatorreceiving exhaust steam from the low pressure element in a single steam135 chamber, said evaporator including a cooling chamber for thereception and evaporation of a light liquid and a second separatechamber for receiving cooling water; an absorber for the light liquidevaporate, the absorber being arranged in 140 heat exchange relationwith the condenser boiler;

a first conduit line for conducting heavy liquid from the combustionboiler to the absorber, said duit line for conducting light liquidcondensate from the condenser boiler to the condenser evaporator saidconduit line including temperature and pressure reducing means togetherwith means for conducting vapor from the combustion boiler to the highpressure element and from the high pressure element to the condenserboiler, means for conducting steam from the condenser boiler to the lowpressure element and from the low pressure element to the condenserevaporator and means for conducting evaporate from the condenserevaporator to the absorber.

11. A power plant according to claim 10 characterized by the fact thatthe pressure reducing means in the first conduit line is a liquidturbine.

12. A binary fluid power plant which includes-- an elastic fluidcompound prime mover having high and low pressure elements; a combustionboiler for producing light liquid vapor for the high pressure elementfrom a binary fluid, one liquid of which is water; a condenser boilerreceiving the exhaust from the high pressure element and producing steamfor the low pressure element; a condenser evaporator receiving exhauststeam from the low pressure element and producing light liquid evaporatewhich is conveyed to an absorber; an absorber for the light liquidevaporate, the absorber being in heat exchange relation with thecondenser boiler; a first conduit line for conducting heavy liquid fromthe combustion boiler to the absorber, said conduit line includingpressure reducing means; a second conduit line for conducting binaryliquid from the absorber to the combustion boiler, said conduit lineincluding a pump; a third conduit line for conducting steam condensatefrom the condenser evaporator to the condenser boiler, said RALPH C.ROE.

